Metallic surface for butter churns



Oct. 16, 1951 F, J, 1, J, HENRARD 2,571,573

I l METALLIC SURFACE FOR BUTTER CHURNS Filed July 14, 1945 Fernonnd jean osepH Tu hen HHTOH \NVE NTOR.

Patented Oct. 16, 1951 METALLIC SURFACE FOR BUTTER CHURNS` Fernand Jean Joseph J ulienHenral-d, Remicourt,

Belgium, assignor cit Anonyme, company to Ecrmeuses Mlotte, So- Remicourt, Belgium, a Belgian Application July 14, 1945, Serial No. 605,084

In Belgium July 27,

' 4 Claims.

It is well known that wooden churns or other apparatus for producing or manipulating butter must, when utilised, be made wet in order to prevent the latter from sticking to the apparatus.

. When use is made of churnsor other apparatus made from smooth metallic sheets, it is next to impossible to make them yWet on account of the lack of porosity which otherwise would permit retention of the water. It is also well known that the butter takes more or less the forms of the surfaces with which it enters into contact; in consequence, if the surface is smooth the wettingr water will be expelled from the places Where the butter enters into contactwith the metallic surface.

In order to avoid the water from being expelled, it has been proposed to produce a certain rugosity of the surfaces by means of a sand blast or of an acid etching action. Though the applicant admits that this method has a certain eflicacy, he has however observed that the very numerous grains of sand which cannot be directed individually during the operation of sand blasting overlap each other and form in this way quite irregular recesses or cavities, most of which are in mutual communication. It follows therefrom that when the butter enters into contact with such a surface, the water which moistens it, is partly expelled, which interferes with the efficacy of the treatment.

The invention has for its object to remedy this drawback and to create a porosity on the metallic surfaces which enters into contact with butter or any other substance of the same consistencyv and it consists in the use of means which permit the creation of a metallic surface which not only, is rugous, but which possesses capillary alveoles, separated from each other, so that this surface has rather the characteristics of wood' which has always been considered, when being wet, as the best material for making apparatus or utensils intended to enter into contact withr In the butter without any danger of sticking. case of wood, the water finds itself, as a matter of fact, in the capillary cavities and can, in consequence, not be expelled from the part entering into contact with the butter.

In the practical embodiment of the invention, the forms and dimensions of the alveoles remain subjected to the laws which govern capillary phenomena. Their depth and their surface are functions of each other and diminish, both of them, in the same ratio, that is to say, if the surface diminishes, the depth also diminishes in Order to enable cleaning and sterilization, which is the primary object in view when metal is substituted for wood.

Figure 1 shows a plate according to theV invention in which the cells of the alveoli have a plane bottom.

Figure 2 is a any one of the cells of the plate of Figure l.

Figure 3` is a detail of a section showing a modied form of cell in which the bottoms of thev alveoli are rounded rather than plane.

Figure 4 is a detail showing a section of a plate according to the invention in which the shape of the cell is further modified to the form ofan inverted pyramid.

The portion A represents the bottom of the alveoles which may be flat, as shown on the drawing, or rounded so as to-avoid angles or corners. The portion B shows the protuberances which surround and separate the alveoles, so as to prevent the water from passing from the one toy the other at the time of the contact with the butter. On the contrary,` this water, which remains confined, forms a cushion between the metal and the butter.

These protuberances or partitions are of tri--A angular or trapezoidal section, but preferablytriangular so as to vbe terminated by a sharp edge in order to reduce the Contact between butter and the metal.

As the alveoles, created in this way, are capillary, they hold water back even in vertical position. A sheet thus prepared according to the invention has more chances of remaining wetV than a metallic surface made rugous by etching with acids or by sand blasting.

These alveoles may have a square, round, oval or polygonal shape, whilst at the same time respecting the laws thatl govern capillary phenomena.

To-make such a surface, one of the following methods of manufacturing may be utilized:

rolling (with a cylinder provided with teeth) knurling or pressing according to the manner which has been adopted yfor the manufacture of perforated sheets.

- In the case of rolling or knurling, one of the cylinders or rollers or one of the knurling tools is provided with bosses or teeth, which represent the hollows of the alveoles. 'The same must be said for'the work with the press,`the lpunches of which` also represent the hollows ofthe alveoles.

`It is obvious that for certain utensilsy other thanthe churn, the impression of the alveoles maybe made on the two faces of the sheet or.

metallic parts by using the same methods.

detail showing a section through.

According to the invention, means are also resorted to in order to suppress the lustre or the billiancy of the facets of the alveolar metallic surfaces, but without modifying their shape or blunting their edges, consequently without attacking the;metal. in the depth and in order that the alveolar metallic surfaces acquire the same natural advantages as those of wood.

The obtention of the maximum of eflicacy of sheets with alveoles is subject in fact to two conditions:

The first condition to be fulfilled is to create a capillary surface by impressing into the metallic surface capillary alveoles which are separated from each other. The capillary state of the metallic surface obtained in this way canbe compared to that of wood, with the exception, however, that the facets of the alveoles preserve their metallic brilliantness which is still differentfrom the dead or lustreless aspect of Wood.

The-second condition'to be fuliilledis toremove the lustre of these alveolar` metallic surfaces in order that they acquire the same natural advantages as those of'wood. e

These means advantageously consist in blowing on the surface by a blast of air under very Weak pressure, an impalpable powder constituted,V

for instance, by clay, alumina or any other substance which has` beforehand been dried, nely crushed and screened inorder to remove all hard grains.

An important characteristic of embodiment of thel process is that the powder is projected on the alveolate sheet of which the lustre has to be taken off' with the aid of an-air-blast the pressure of which is distinctly inferior to the quired for an ordinary sand-jet.

By way of simpleexample, this pressure of air can be, in the case of the present invention, of the order of 0.5 to 0.8 kg. per 'cm (these pressures being to be considered rather as a maximum) land the screening of the clay, dried beforehand, can be carried out withv the aid of a sieve No. 90 (90 x 90 meshes per square inch, which is a maximum size of the clayparticles of 0.075 mm. d).

What is desired, is not, as with the method by sand-blast previously known, to eliminate the, soft parts of the metal in order to leave the .hard

parts in place, but really to take off the lustre, that is to say to suppress the brilliancy orthe lustre of a metallic surface without scratching itV nor creating cavities, which, in the present case,

makes it necessary to avoid a modification indepth of the surface of the facets of the al-` veoles and to leave these facets in the smooth and silky state, without metallic brillian'cy.

. The treatment carried out according to the present invention isV also very different as regards the obtained result, because the proceedingin question is so superficial and applies to a sog little hollowed metallic surface that it would not be practical if it was not performed on sheets Withalveoles. With these latter, the Darts from which the luster `has been removed escape the frictions due to use, whereas if the operation of removing the luster was applied to a sheet without alveoles, this proceeding would have no practical eifect and the fact that the lustre had been removed would be made very quickly illusory in consequence of the use made by the apparatus. v

The cavities from whichthe lustre is removed, protect the facets against any contact or friction due to use and to the employmentof cleansing products or agentsrwhich would bring back rapidly to the polished metal state a. smooth surface.

pressure 1'1"!- without alveoles which would have been dealt with according to the invention.

Another improvement relates to the shape of the alveoles.

Hereinabove either a flat bottom (Figure 2) or a rounded bottom (Figure 3) has been recommended for the alveoles. Experience shows, however, that it is advantageous to arrange for the facets l (Figure 4) to rejoin each other at the bottom of the alveole in such a way that this bottom then presents a shape ending in a point.

This shaperequires far less power for the penetration of the punches or of the rolling cylinder.

On the other hand, it is necessary to respect the ratio between the width and the depth of the alveoles in order to take into consideration the conditions of capillarity, whilst at the same time maintaining their possibilities of being cleaned.

That is the-reason why the angle of inclination of the facets has been modified.

In Figs. 2 and 3, thegalveoles have consequently a pyramidal shape with a square base. This kind of alveoles is obtained generally by rolling because, the formation in the rolling cylinder of groovesv 1. In an apparatus for the production and manipulation of butter, a surface moisture retaining element intended to be initially wetted and maintained in a wetted condition in contact with a butter mass in a churn or the like, comprising a metallic plate having one surface provided with alveoli formed by Acapillary cells, the walls of adjacent cells converging and intersecting in. a line, all the lines being substantially in a common plane whereby the surface of said plane is reduced to a minimum exposed area, the wetting medium being retained in said cells by capillary attraction, said medium connecting adjoining cells across said edges where it is retained by surface tension, whereby the entire surface of the plate is maintained in a wetted condition.

2. A surface moisture retaining element according to claim 1 wherein said alveoli in said metallic member are formed in the shape of an inverted frustum of a -pyramid whose base is a square to effect said cells.

3. A surface moisture retaining element according tof claim ,1, wherein said alveoli in said metallic member V`are formed in the shape of an inverted pyramid whose apex is at the Abase of each of the respective cells.

4. A surface moisture retaining element ac- FERNAND JEAN JOSEPH JULIEN HENRARD.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Noack Aug. 20, 1901 Fischer Dec. 4, 1906 Archert May 30, 1911 Noack Sept. 5, 1911 Kirsch July 1, 1924 Dann Apr. 20, 1926 Brincil May 11, 1926 Number Number Name Date Johnson et a1 Oct. 19, 1926 Butler Dec. 14, 1926 Bagby June 19, 1934 St. John July 7, 1936 Mitchel et a1 May 14, 1940 Leech Feb. 24, 1942 Kline et a1 May 25, 1942 Smith June 8, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1894 

